Rate The Last Movie You Watched - Page 95

rowech · 01-03-2012, 08:24 PM

Fanboys (6 or 7/10) -- Have a rough time deciding if I liked this movie just a little bit or a lot. Lot of great lines for a fan of Star Wars but I still think it should have been better.

sterlingice · 01-03-2012, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I'm not sure how I rated the first 3 but it would go something like this: 9.5/9/6. For fourth one, probably a 5.5 if it wasn't for Penelope Cruz, which brings it up to a 6.5. Seems bit of a boring movie with Depp et al simply going through the motions.

I need to rewatch the first three of these. I felt the third was better than the second but I've only seen each twice. The first might as well be a 10 in my book- one of the most fun movies I can recall seeing.

SI

stevew · 01-09-2012, 08:16 AM

Blue Valentine 9/10
All too realistic portrayal of a disintegrating marriage. At times, this hit way close to home. Both of the leads, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, were amazing. More than just the typical vehicle thrown together to attempt to get some acting nominations. Really liked the way they layered together the story using past and present.

korme · 01-09-2012, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevew

Blue Valentine 9/10
All too realistic portrayal of a disintegrating marriage. At times, this hit way close to home. Both of the leads, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, we're amazing. More than just the typical vehicle thrown together to attempt to get some acting nominations. Really liked the way they layered together the story using past and present.

Couldn't agree more

larrymcg421 · 01-09-2012, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevew

Blue Valentine 9/10
All too realistic portrayal of a disintegrating marriage. At times, this hit way close to home. Both of the leads, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, we're amazing. More than just the typical vehicle thrown together to attempt to get some acting nominations. Really liked the way they layered together the story using past and present.

Yeah, I thought this movie was amazing. I love how the time shifting was used to reveal things that give you a different perspective, like when Gosling was pissed she was talking to that one guy, he seemed like an asshole. But then later you find out exactly why he would be so pissed.

gstelmack · 01-09-2012, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Cowboys and Aliens - 6/10

Not a bad movie overall, just not quite what I was expecting. Not as action packed as I thought it would be. Ford and Craig were good in their roles. Something was missing though, that I still haven't really been able to put my finger on, that I feel would have brought the movie up to the next level. It may have been the script, however, the acting wasn't bad and the visuals were very good.

Saw this last night, and I'd go a bit higher, maybe 7.5. I don't understand the folks that rip Ford for "mailing" this one in to collect a paycheck, I thought he played his character perfectly. I was really enjoying it until near the end:

Spoiler

but overall a pretty good watch, and of course well set up for a sequel set at some point in the future, when the aliens come back to find out what happened to their scouts, and no one on earth remembers they were here. Unless that's what Independence Day was all about...

JediKooter · 01-09-2012, 12:52 PM

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 7/10

Not a bad movie at all. Simon Pegg was pretty good and added a really comedic element, but, wasn't over the top or distracting. All of the actors did a really good job except for the actress that played the female team member. Her facial expressions and acting looks like she went to the Dwayne Johnson School of Acting.

I don't want to give too much of it away, but, it was an entertaining movie that doesn't have too many slow parts. There's definitely some over the top scenes that aren't reality based, but, it's a fictional movie and that doesn't bother me.

Other than that one actresses performance, I'd recommend it as a 'Go See it" movie.

stevew · 01-18-2012, 01:40 PM

The Kids are All Right 7/10

Some really good acting performances by the leads. Benning and Moore are almost always excellent. I was somewhat bothered by the plot, however. I'm not sure that the depiction of Moore

Spoiler

was entirely accurate. I understand that life is complicated, of course. I know the movie was written by a lesbian, but it almost seemed like the story teetered on male fantasy at times.

stevew · 01-18-2012, 01:46 PM

Twelve 6/10

I'm a bit of a sucker for the teens without parents genre. This movie is in a similar vein to something like Bully or Alpha Dog. Semi solid performances by the male lead(Chace Crawford) and 50 cent was pretty good. A bit too heavy handed on the Keifer Sutherland narration in my opinion.

Chief Rum · 01-19-2012, 01:06 PM

Note: this movie comes out tomorrow and I have not seen it, but...

Red Tails...

So, lemme get this straight. They took a perfectly excellent actual American history story of reference (the story of the Tuskegee airmen) that would make a great drama that could be done with the proper weight and within the context of overcoming the racism of the times, and made a popcorn, shooter flick out of it?

Really?

"Shocker" #1: This is not currently rating well among critics (despite a good cast)

"Shocker" #2: George "Not My Fault Star Wars is Dead" Lucas was involved.

(P.S. I think there actually is a drama--by HBO?--about the Tuskegee airmen, so I guess I could go get that if I want to see the story done right)

Honolulu_Blue · 01-19-2012, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Note: this movie comes out tomorrow and I have not seen it, but...

Red Tails...

So, lemme get this straight. They took a perfectly excellent actual American history story of reference (the story of the Tuskegee airmen) that would make a great drama that could be done with the proper weight and within the context of overcoming the racism of the times, and made a popcorn, shooter flick out of it?

Really?

"Shocker" #1: This is not currently rating well among critics (despite a good cast)

"Shocker" #2: George "Not My Fault Star Wars is Dead" Lucas was involved.

(P.S. I think there actually is a drama--by HBO?--about the Tuskegee airmen, so I guess I could go get that if I want to see the story done right)

Some scenes from the trailer make it look like a Tracy Jordan film from "30 Rock", like "A Blaffair to Rememblack", "Sherlock Homie" or "Who Dat Ninja".

It's disappointing that such a cool real life story couldn't get better treatment.

k0ruptr · 01-19-2012, 01:53 PM

The Descendants 8/10 - New George Clooney flick based in Hawaii covering some difficult topics to cover in Hawaii. He plays land owner lawyer guy who's wife has a boating accident and he's trying to decide whether to sell off a massive piece of property on Kauai that was passed down through the generations from Hawaiian Royalty. It is pretty damn good.

Dirty Girl - 8/10 - very under rated comedy about a teenage girl in HS in 1987. Shes the dirty girl who ends up teaming for a cross country adventure with a kid in her class and a bag of flour named Joan.

I loved it, I thought the acting was pretty amazing, not easy parts to play and the story was fantastic!

Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier and Milla Jovovich star.

Chief Rum · 01-19-2012, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

The Descendants 8/10 - New George Clooney flick based in Hawaii covering some difficult topics to cover in Hawaii. He plays land owner lawyer guy who's wife has a boating accident and he's trying to decide whether to sell off a massive piece of property on Kauai that was passed down through the generations from Hawaiian Royalty. It is pretty damn good.

Heh... I have read the story synopsis for this (haven't seen it yet), and your description about what this movie is about veers sharply from that synopsis right after "wife has a boatong accident".

Although I don't doubt the property bit is a part of the story.

It would be kinda like describing The Natural as the story of a young baseball player who's career was derailed by a tragic injury, only to have the player work hard to overcome the tragedy to eventually fall in love and move to a farm.

k0ruptr · 01-19-2012, 02:53 PM

true. they did an excellent job on the story and the property bit. Hawaiian land is kind of a touchy subject still so I found it interesting.

sabotai · 01-19-2012, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

(P.S. I think there actually is a drama--by HBO?--about the Tuskegee airmen, so I guess I could go get that if I want to see the story done right)

Yes, there was an HBO movie with Cuba Gooding Jr and Lawrence Fishburn about the Tuskegee airmen. I remember watching it a long time ago, but don't remember much of it. I'll have to give it another watch.

The Tuskegee Airmen (TV 1995) - IMDb

chinaski · 01-19-2012, 04:16 PM

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 6/10
I think I need to watch it again. Superb acting, but I just thought the story was mind numbingly boring.

rowech · 01-19-2012, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabotai

Yes, there was an HBO movie with Cuba Gooding Jr and Lawrence Fishburn about the Tuskegee airmen. I remember watching it a long time ago, but don't remember much of it. I'll have to give it another watch.

The Tuskegee Airmen (TV 1995) - IMDb

The one thing I hope Red Tails will do is get people to watch The Tuskegee Airmen. Was fantastic.

Buccaneer · 01-20-2012, 11:26 PM

The Wrestler - 9.5/10 - Just got around to watching this, knowing previously about Mickey's performance, and thought it was amazing.

stevew · 01-21-2012, 06:41 PM

Adventures of TinTin. 8/10
Way more fun than many action movies. On par with any Indy-style movie, although I would say it is a notch below Raiders or Last Crusade. Possibly should have gone for the PG-13 cause it was probably too violent for a PG.

Matthean · 02-03-2012, 12:02 AM

This could go in the Netflix thread but I felt like it went there. I saw The Evil Dead. Raimi directed the hell out of that two cent budget. Even for a cult classic it came across even better than expected which is more than I can say for the other cult classic type of films I have been watching. It would be interesting to see what would of happened with Bruce if he went more serious roles versus the B-movie stuff. Not saying he had huge potential, but it feels like he was kind of wasted doing the campy type of stuff.

CrimsonFox · 02-03-2012, 12:47 AM

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 9/10- Awesome performances from Sam ROckwell and George Clooney with a hell of a script from Charlie Kaufman. Love all the spy stuff as well as his TV fantasy stuff. Was Clooney's first directing job. Have watched this many MANY times.

American Splendor 10/10 - Don't know how I missed this over the years but finally watched this. So inriguing. I had to watch it several more times that week including with commentary. Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis and Judah Friedlander all give awesome performances. Such a weird and fun movie...like instead of a reality show, it's a reality movie. Pekar's actual appearances make it really neat as does all the cartoons done OF the characters in the movie.

(which led me to watch...)
Sideways 8/10- I'd hesitate to say my favorite wine movie as this is the only one I think. Heh. But another Paul Giamatti movie I like a lot. Maybe a little overedited at times but the performances are awesome.

korme · 02-14-2012, 03:31 PM

SUPER (2011) - 4/10
Ummm, what the hell was that? Rainn Wilson is a guy who recently loses his wife, and turns into a super hero. A super hero who assaults a ton of people and is more of a criminal than anything. It's kind of funny, so it's not completely lost. Extremely graphic.

Butter · 02-14-2012, 04:05 PM

I have this DVR'd right now... your description is making me want to remove it.

I'll throw the last 4 I've seen in here:

The Last Exorcism - 7

The "mockumentary" style was fine here, but I guess I am tired of it as a genre. This was almost a cross between that and a "found footage" thriller... for reasons that become obvious about halfway through. I still don't really understand what was going on at the end. And there is a lot of good, creepy build-up... while the payoff comes fast and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So that was disappointing.

Best Worst Movie - 7

This is a fun documentary about Troll 2, which is universally considered one of the worst movies ever made. The detail that the movie goes into to show you just how bad it is is fairly amusing. But it is somewhat odd to see such a horrible movie celebrated as it is throughout much of this film. It is heartwarming, in a sort of "Moonlight Graham" way to see the main character here (and of Troll 2) being a devoted dentist in a small Alabama city. It is a little off-putting to see him pushing the movie so very hard through the middle of it, but then a bit satisfying to see him sort of rebel against it a bit in the later stages. The movie does a good job of using him as a gateway into the movie itself... I mean, if he's the star and he KNOWS it was horrible, then it is ok to laugh about it now.

I have to admit, I never really saw the value in sitting through a really horrible movie (unless I've got like the MST3K gang commenting or something). It just seems like a horrible waste of time. But obviously there are thousands upon thousands of people who don't agree. Kudos to the filmmaker for presenting both sides of things... meaning that there are some people involved who don't embrace it being viewed as a flop, including the horribly deluded female lead from the film who actually compares it favorably to Casablanca, and the film's Italian director, who blames all of the film's misfortunes on the cast.

The Vow - 5

I didn't hate this movie, but I didn't think it was very good. I left with an overall positive feeling (as you probably should from a romantic comedy released at Valentine's Day), but the movie made me work hard to get there. The male lead does a pretty good job overall. But aside from the female lead, every single other character is about as flat as you can get. There's the evil ex-boyfriend, the controlling parents, the vapid old friends, the hipster current friends. Pair all that with making the female lead nearly as unlikeable as you can get in the middle stages, and the film has a hard road back for itself. I will give it credit for not making it all rainbows and baskets of puppies and kittens, but at the same time, it also gives the female lead too easy of a road back into her old life... basically there is one event that begins the old transformation, which is a little too easy of a choice to make. But hey, I expected to give this a 2, so I was pleasantly surprised in that respect.

The Ides of March - 9

A fun movie for a Democrat who was an old political science major. All the actors in it are just perfect. You can see the transformation in Ryan Gosling's character from wide-eyed idealist, to narrow-minded selfish... ist. I'm sure there's a word for it, but it's not coming to me.

Plus, let me add to the praise for Blue Valentine... I thought that was the best movie of 2010.

Groundhog · 02-15-2012, 05:22 PM

Chronicle - 6.5/10

I was impressed by the adverts and intentionally avoided Rotten Tomatoes so I wouldn't know what the general consensus on this movie was. I walked out thinking it was an excellent idea for a story, but the execution was heavy-handed and the handcam style of shooting was distracting and not neccessary. So yeah, I'm pretty shocked to find out that pretty much everyone absolutely loved it.

Michael B. Jordan looks like a superstar in the making however.

Grover · 02-21-2012, 01:59 AM

Win Win 9/10
Don't know if anyone else here has seen this, but it's a drama/comedy starring Paul Giamatti, Amy Strong and Alex Shaffer with excellent supporting roles from Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young and Bobby Cannavale. Giamatti plays a struggling lawyer and volunteer high school wrestling coach who makes a bad decision while representing a man suffering from dementia (Young). Shortly after, the man's grandson (Shaffer) enters the picture and everything changes.

I don't want to give too much away, but the movie is very funny when it needs to be and very touching at the same time. I kept seeing previews for it on Cinemax and thought it would be a straight-out comedy from what they showed, but that was not the case.

I highly recommend the film.

Suicane75 · 02-21-2012, 03:06 AM

Agree on Win Win. I thought the kid was excellent and Giamatti was strong as usual. I really like that they didn't try to make everything black and white. Burt Young is always fun to watch as well.

samifan24 · 02-21-2012, 06:15 PM

Drive - 10/10

Just fantastic. I don't want to give anything away. Just see it.

spleen1015 · 02-21-2012, 06:21 PM

I saw Red Tails this weekend because my kid wanted to see it.

It sucked.

-10/10.

sterlingice · 02-21-2012, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I saw Red Tails this weekend because my kid wanted to see it.

It sucked.

-10/10.

I'll ask the dumb question as Lucas seems to be going almost wholly for the kids market these days: did your kid like it?

SI

spleen1015 · 02-21-2012, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I'll ask the dumb question as Lucas seems to be going almost wholly for the kids market these days: did your kid like it?

SI

I say kid. He is 19 and he liked it. He also thinks Flyboys is a good movie, too.

Matthean · 02-21-2012, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I'll ask the dumb question as Lucas seems to be going almost wholly for the kids market these days: did your kid like it?

SI

What do you mean these days?

Honolulu_Blue · 02-22-2012, 09:12 AM

Aliens (1986) - 10/10

I watched "Aliens" the other night for the first time in a while. Lady H_B had never seen it or "Alien", so we watched both of them about a week apart. Prior to last night I have probably watched "Aliens" well over 20 times. It's one of my favorite movies of all time and possibly my second favorite behind the original "Star Wars". It still holds up incredibly well today. We watched the "extended version", which adds a lot of great additional scenes. The sound of the pulse rifles and motion sensors are still two of my favorite movie sound effects ever.

Grover · 02-22-2012, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Aliens (1986) - 10/10

I watched "Aliens" the other night for the first time in a while. Lady H_B had never seen it or "Alien", so we watched both of them about a week apart. Prior to last night I have probably watched "Aliens" well over 20 times. It's one of my favorite movies of all time and possibly my second favorite behind the original "Star Wars". It still holds up incredibly well today. We watched the "extended version", which adds a lot of great additional scenes. The sound of the pulse rifles and motion sensors are still two of my favorite movie sound effects ever.

I have been in love with this movie ever since I was about 8 years old. I originally had a VHS copy that was recorded from the local FOX station that I wore out by the time I was 12 or 13. Easily my favorite from the series. Everything about this movie is awesome.

Wish I still had all the Aliens action figures I had when I was a kid. Those things were great.

CrimsonFox · 02-22-2012, 10:40 AM

M Night Schalyaltyukdnfgaldkthja d's Lady in the Water - 1/10 Couldn't make it through it. Shut it off out of boredom. Love Paul Giamatti's stuff but anything he does and says is overshadowed by utter crap overdirection.

Good Night and Good Luck - 8/10 George Clooney costars and directs his 2nd filme here. Solid film totally! Great genre piece. Clooney loves noir and does it VERY well (he had a similar style to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind). Great performances by Clooney, Jeff Daniels, Patricia Clarkson, Robert Downey Jr, and the lead David Strathairn! History is boring but Clooney makes it very compelling.

Izulde · 02-22-2012, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 9/10- Awesome performances from Sam ROckwell and George Clooney with a hell of a script from Charlie Kaufman. Love all the spy stuff as well as his TV fantasy stuff. Was Clooney's first directing job. Have watched this many MANY times.

Funny enough, I was just thinking about this movie yesterday and how it's my favorite movie that I keep forgetting about and is probably somewhere in the ranks of most enjoyed movies of all time.

stevew · 02-26-2012, 01:09 AM

Drive 8/10?

Pretty hard to rate, as I really enjoyed a lot of it. But I also felt like it could have been like 2 times as long and I would have liked it more. Somewhat of a Heat type vibe to this movie, and to be honest they had the framework to exceed that movie but they didn't. I felt like it had the vibe of a once a decade type movie, but something was just missing. Some sort of a "B" story would have elevated this to the top.

I'd wager a sizeable amount of money on Gosling winning an Oscar within the next 5 years. He's pretty much in that type of zone right now.

ISiddiqui · 02-26-2012, 01:32 AM

The Artist - 9/10: Just a wonderful silent film. They really got it right with perfect casting and a fun old-timey plot which involved the move from silent films to talkies. I remember reading that a lot of silent film actors couldn't make the leap, because it takes a very different skill set to be a silent film actor than it does for talking films. For actors used to talkies to go back to exaggerated motions for silent films has to be quite a feat. Utterly charming.

rowech · 02-26-2012, 07:08 AM

Ides of March -- 5/10 Found it boring. Premise was good but the lead sucked. Ryan Gosling continues to be a horrible actor. Probably won't ever give him another chance to earn my dollars.

weegeebored · 02-26-2012, 10:05 AM

Drive 3/10 -- I don't understand why a lot of people like this movie. It tries to be artsy, I guess. Fail there. It tries to be Tarentino or Mann-like in parts. Fail again. Gosling tries to play...I don't know...a kewl dude? The mysterious loner? A tough guy with a big heart? He just comes off as a big bore with flat affect, so epic fail there. Based on the opening scene I thought this had a chance, but only that scene and Bryan Cranston are anything good about this movie. Come on -- Albert Brooks as a bad guy?

Matthean · 02-26-2012, 10:27 AM

From what reviews I have seen, Drive is a love it or hate it type of movie.

korme · 02-26-2012, 02:42 PM

rowech, dude are you kidding me? Watch Half-Nelson or The Believer. Gosling is a hell of a young actor.

chinaski · 02-26-2012, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by korme

rowech, dude are you kidding me? Watch Half-Nelson or The Believer. Gosling is a hell of a young actor.

Both great. Murder by Numbers, Lars and the Real Girl and Blue Valentine are other fine examples of how talented that dude is.

I thought Drive was easily top 3 best of 2011.

cubboyroy1826 · 02-26-2012, 03:38 PM

I will weigh in on the Drive was dreadful side. I really like Gossling and agree he is a very good actor who is going to win awards in his career. I thought that Drive started off great but could just never get into it.

stevew · 02-26-2012, 04:35 PM

Transformers 3- 7/10

Easily better than the 2nd film. To editorialize for a second....how fucking violent was this film? I can't believe this got a PG13. Optimus was ripping the faces off his enemies and killshotting enemies that tried to surrender. Obviously these are "robots" but they are also living creatures according to the movie storylines. I probably just don't take things the right way, but this is a borderline grind snuff film.

Groundhog · 02-26-2012, 05:11 PM

The opening scene of Drive is amazing, but I agree with the others who though it failed to build on that. Was pretty much just a standard action movie after that.

Scoobz0202 · 02-26-2012, 05:18 PM

I thought the first scene was brilliant as well. I see I'm not alone in that.

Gosling's great. I thought it was a really good movie. I do think the first 75% - 80% was better then the end, though. Something was lacking in the end and I'm not really sure what. I thought it was very good, but there was "something" that prevented it from being great, imo.

Groundhog · 02-26-2012, 06:50 PM

The 'problem' I have with Gosling is that I just can't buy him as a tough guy. He looks like a nerdy type of dude who has hit the gym, perfect for the nice-guy romantic comedies and super getaway car drivers, but not as convincing when he is beating thugs to death in elevators.

Grammaticus · 02-27-2012, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weegeebored

Drive 3/10 -- I don't understand why a lot of people like this movie. It tries to be artsy, I guess. Fail there. It tries to be Tarentino or Mann-like in parts. Fail again. Gosling tries to play...I don't know...a kewl dude? The mysterious loner? A tough guy with a big heart? He just comes off as a big bore with flat affect, so epic fail there. Based on the opening scene I thought this had a chance, but only that scene and Bryan Cranston are anything good about this movie. Come on -- Albert Brooks as a bad guy?

I took it as a modern day attempt to copy the man with now name / fist full of dollars movie, but in a different genre. Didn't live up to that classic, but it was a pretty entertaining movie.

Chief Rum · 02-27-2012, 01:59 AM

The thing I liked about Gosling in Drive is that he isn't the typical action star--he's a borderline psychopathic killer who has retained just enough humanity to kinda make some acceptable decisions. I mean, his cold and quiet acting in this one is pretty damn chilling considering the level of killing he is doing.

Normal action stars don't pull that off.

korme · 02-27-2012, 02:25 AM

It's the polarizing level of acting. Either you take it as acting with zero personality (bad), or intense acting with an amazing amount of concentration (good); the equivalent of saying so much with so few words

01-09-2012, 08:16 AM	#4703
stevew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the yo'	Blue Valentine 9/10 All too realistic portrayal of a disintegrating marriage. At times, this hit way close to home. Both of the leads, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, were amazing. More than just the typical vehicle thrown together to attempt to get some acting nominations. Really liked the way they layered together the story using past and present. Last edited by stevew : 01-09-2012 at 02:07 PM.

01-09-2012, 12:52 PM	#4707
JediKooter Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: San Diego via Sausalito via San Jose via San Diego	Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 7/10 Not a bad movie at all. Simon Pegg was pretty good and added a really comedic element, but, wasn't over the top or distracting. All of the actors did a really good job except for the actress that played the female team member. Her facial expressions and acting looks like she went to the Dwayne Johnson School of Acting. I don't want to give too much of it away, but, it was an entertaining movie that doesn't have too many slow parts. There's definitely some over the top scenes that aren't reality based, but, it's a fictional movie and that doesn't bother me. Other than that one actresses performance, I'd recommend it as a 'Go See it" movie. __________________ I'm no longer a Chargers fan, they are dead to me Coming this summer to a movie theater near you: The Adventures of Jedikooter: Part 4

01-18-2012, 01:40 PM	#4708
stevew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the yo'	The Kids are All Right 7/10 Some really good acting performances by the leads. Benning and Moore are almost always excellent. I was somewhat bothered by the plot, however. I'm not sure that the depiction of Moore Spoiler as a Lesbian who just needs a good dicking was entirely accurate. I understand that life is complicated, of course. I know the movie was written by a lesbian, but it almost seemed like the story teetered on male fantasy at times.

01-19-2012, 01:06 PM	#4710
Chief Rum Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Where Hip Hop lives	Note: this movie comes out tomorrow and I have not seen it, but... Red Tails... So, lemme get this straight. They took a perfectly excellent actual American history story of reference (the story of the Tuskegee airmen) that would make a great drama that could be done with the proper weight and within the context of overcoming the racism of the times, and made a popcorn, shooter flick out of it? Really? "Shocker" #1: This is not currently rating well among critics (despite a good cast) "Shocker" #2: George "Not My Fault Star Wars is Dead" Lucas was involved. (P.S. I think there actually is a drama--by HBO?--about the Tuskegee airmen, so I guess I could go get that if I want to see the story done right) __________________ . . I would rather be wrong...Than live in the shadows of your song...My mind is open wide...And now I'm ready to start...You're not sure...You open the door...And step out into the dark...Now I'm ready. Last edited by Chief Rum : 01-19-2012 at 01:07 PM.

01-19-2012, 01:53 PM	#4712
k0ruptr Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Las Vegas	The Descendants 8/10 - New George Clooney flick based in Hawaii covering some difficult topics to cover in Hawaii. He plays land owner lawyer guy who's wife has a boating accident and he's trying to decide whether to sell off a massive piece of property on Kauai that was passed down through the generations from Hawaiian Royalty. It is pretty damn good. Dirty Girl - 8/10 - very under rated comedy about a teenage girl in HS in 1987. Shes the dirty girl who ends up teaming for a cross country adventure with a kid in her class and a bag of flour named Joan. I loved it, I thought the acting was pretty amazing, not easy parts to play and the story was fantastic! Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier and Milla Jovovich star. __________________ Xbox Live Gamertag: k0ruptr My Favorite Teams : Chicago White Sox - Carolina Panthers - Orlando Magic - Phoenix Suns - Anaheim Ducks - Hawaii Warriors - Oregon Ducks

01-03-2012, 08:24 PM	#4701
rowech Pro Starter Join Date: Feb 2006	Fanboys (6 or 7/10) -- Have a rough time deciding if I liked this movie just a little bit or a lot. Lot of great lines for a fan of Star Wars but I still think it should have been better.

01-18-2012, 01:46 PM	#4709
stevew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the yo'	Twelve 6/10 I'm a bit of a sucker for the teens without parents genre. This movie is in a similar vein to something like Bully or Alpha Dog. Semi solid performances by the male lead(Chace Crawford) and 50 cent was pretty good. A bit too heavy handed on the Keifer Sutherland narration in my opinion.

01-19-2012, 02:53 PM	#4714
k0ruptr Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Las Vegas	true. they did an excellent job on the story and the property bit. Hawaiian land is kind of a touchy subject still so I found it interesting. __________________ Xbox Live Gamertag: k0ruptr My Favorite Teams : Chicago White Sox - Carolina Panthers - Orlando Magic - Phoenix Suns - Anaheim Ducks - Hawaii Warriors - Oregon Ducks

01-19-2012, 04:16 PM	#4716
chinaski College Prospect Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Portland, Oregon	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 6/10 I think I need to watch it again. Superb acting, but I just thought the story was mind numbingly boring. __________________ CCFL - Buffalo Bills IHOF - Houston Mustangs GML - San Diego

01-20-2012, 11:26 PM	#4718
Buccaneer Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Colorado	The Wrestler - 9.5/10 - Just got around to watching this, knowing previously about Mickey's performance, and thought it was amazing.

01-21-2012, 06:41 PM	#4719
stevew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the yo'	Adventures of TinTin. 8/10 Way more fun than many action movies. On par with any Indy-style movie, although I would say it is a notch below Raiders or Last Crusade. Possibly should have gone for the PG-13 cause it was probably too violent for a PG.

02-03-2012, 12:02 AM	#4720
Matthean Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Aug 2008	This could go in the Netflix thread but I felt like it went there. I saw The Evil Dead. Raimi directed the hell out of that two cent budget. Even for a cult classic it came across even better than expected which is more than I can say for the other cult classic type of films I have been watching. It would be interesting to see what would of happened with Bruce if he went more serious roles versus the B-movie stuff. Not saying he had huge potential, but it feels like he was kind of wasted doing the campy type of stuff. __________________ Board games: Bringing people back to the original social network, the table.

02-03-2012, 12:47 AM	#4721
CrimsonFox Head Coach Join Date: Dec 2009	Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 9/10- Awesome performances from Sam ROckwell and George Clooney with a hell of a script from Charlie Kaufman. Love all the spy stuff as well as his TV fantasy stuff. Was Clooney's first directing job. Have watched this many MANY times. American Splendor 10/10 - Don't know how I missed this over the years but finally watched this. So inriguing. I had to watch it several more times that week including with commentary. Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis and Judah Friedlander all give awesome performances. Such a weird and fun movie...like instead of a reality show, it's a reality movie. Pekar's actual appearances make it really neat as does all the cartoons done OF the characters in the movie. (which led me to watch...) Sideways 8/10- I'd hesitate to say my favorite wine movie as this is the only one I think. Heh. But another Paul Giamatti movie I like a lot. Maybe a little overedited at times but the performances are awesome. Last edited by CrimsonFox : 02-03-2012 at 12:48 AM.

02-14-2012, 03:31 PM	#4722
korme Go Reds Join Date: May 2001 Location: Bloodbuzz Ohio	SUPER (2011) - 4/10 Ummm, what the hell was that? Rainn Wilson is a guy who recently loses his wife, and turns into a super hero. A super hero who assaults a ton of people and is more of a criminal than anything. It's kind of funny, so it's not completely lost. Extremely graphic.

02-14-2012, 04:05 PM	#4723
Butter Coordinator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Dayton, OH	I have this DVR'd right now... your description is making me want to remove it. I'll throw the last 4 I've seen in here: The Last Exorcism - 7 The "mockumentary" style was fine here, but I guess I am tired of it as a genre. This was almost a cross between that and a "found footage" thriller... for reasons that become obvious about halfway through. I still don't really understand what was going on at the end. And there is a lot of good, creepy build-up... while the payoff comes fast and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So that was disappointing. Best Worst Movie - 7 This is a fun documentary about Troll 2, which is universally considered one of the worst movies ever made. The detail that the movie goes into to show you just how bad it is is fairly amusing. But it is somewhat odd to see such a horrible movie celebrated as it is throughout much of this film. It is heartwarming, in a sort of "Moonlight Graham" way to see the main character here (and of Troll 2) being a devoted dentist in a small Alabama city. It is a little off-putting to see him pushing the movie so very hard through the middle of it, but then a bit satisfying to see him sort of rebel against it a bit in the later stages. The movie does a good job of using him as a gateway into the movie itself... I mean, if he's the star and he KNOWS it was horrible, then it is ok to laugh about it now. I have to admit, I never really saw the value in sitting through a really horrible movie (unless I've got like the MST3K gang commenting or something). It just seems like a horrible waste of time. But obviously there are thousands upon thousands of people who don't agree. Kudos to the filmmaker for presenting both sides of things... meaning that there are some people involved who don't embrace it being viewed as a flop, including the horribly deluded female lead from the film who actually compares it favorably to Casablanca, and the film's Italian director, who blames all of the film's misfortunes on the cast. The Vow - 5 I didn't hate this movie, but I didn't think it was very good. I left with an overall positive feeling (as you probably should from a romantic comedy released at Valentine's Day), but the movie made me work hard to get there. The male lead does a pretty good job overall. But aside from the female lead, every single other character is about as flat as you can get. There's the evil ex-boyfriend, the controlling parents, the vapid old friends, the hipster current friends. Pair all that with making the female lead nearly as unlikeable as you can get in the middle stages, and the film has a hard road back for itself. I will give it credit for not making it all rainbows and baskets of puppies and kittens, but at the same time, it also gives the female lead too easy of a road back into her old life... basically there is one event that begins the old transformation, which is a little too easy of a choice to make. But hey, I expected to give this a 2, so I was pleasantly surprised in that respect. The Ides of March - 9 A fun movie for a Democrat who was an old political science major. All the actors in it are just perfect. You can see the transformation in Ryan Gosling's character from wide-eyed idealist, to narrow-minded selfish... ist. I'm sure there's a word for it, but it's not coming to me. Plus, let me add to the praise for Blue Valentine... I thought that was the best movie of 2010. __________________ My listening habits

02-15-2012, 05:22 PM	#4724
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	Chronicle - 6.5/10 I was impressed by the adverts and intentionally avoided Rotten Tomatoes so I wouldn't know what the general consensus on this movie was. I walked out thinking it was an excellent idea for a story, but the execution was heavy-handed and the handcam style of shooting was distracting and not neccessary. So yeah, I'm pretty shocked to find out that pretty much everyone absolutely loved it. Michael B. Jordan looks like a superstar in the making however. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

02-21-2012, 01:59 AM	#4725
Grover Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Lisboa, ME	Win Win 9/10 Don't know if anyone else here has seen this, but it's a drama/comedy starring Paul Giamatti, Amy Strong and Alex Shaffer with excellent supporting roles from Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young and Bobby Cannavale. Giamatti plays a struggling lawyer and volunteer high school wrestling coach who makes a bad decision while representing a man suffering from dementia (Young). Shortly after, the man's grandson (Shaffer) enters the picture and everything changes. I don't want to give too much away, but the movie is very funny when it needs to be and very touching at the same time. I kept seeing previews for it on Cinemax and thought it would be a straight-out comedy from what they showed, but that was not the case. I highly recommend the film. __________________ Come On You Irons! West Ham United \| Philadelphia Flyers \| Cincinnati Bengals \| Kansas City Royals FOFC Greatest Band Draft Runner Up FOFC Movie Remake Draft Winner FOFC Movie Comedy Draft Winner

02-21-2012, 03:06 AM	#4726
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	Agree on Win Win. I thought the kid was excellent and Giamatti was strong as usual. I really like that they didn't try to make everything black and white. Burt Young is always fun to watch as well.

02-21-2012, 06:15 PM	#4727
samifan24 Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: NC	Drive - 10/10 Just fantastic. I don't want to give anything away. Just see it. __________________ "You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball...and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time." -Jim Bouton

02-21-2012, 06:21 PM	#4728
spleen1015 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003	I saw Red Tails this weekend because my kid wanted to see it. It sucked. -10/10.

02-22-2012, 09:12 AM	#4732
Honolulu_Blue Hockey Boy Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Royal Oak, MI	Aliens (1986) - 10/10 I watched "Aliens" the other night for the first time in a while. Lady H_B had never seen it or "Alien", so we watched both of them about a week apart. Prior to last night I have probably watched "Aliens" well over 20 times. It's one of my favorite movies of all time and possibly my second favorite behind the original "Star Wars". It still holds up incredibly well today. We watched the "extended version", which adds a lot of great additional scenes. The sound of the pulse rifles and motion sensors are still two of my favorite movie sound effects ever. __________________ *Steve Yzerman*: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).

02-22-2012, 10:40 AM	#4734
CrimsonFox Head Coach Join Date: Dec 2009	M Night Schalyaltyukdnfgaldkthja d's Lady in the Water - 1/10 Couldn't make it through it. Shut it off out of boredom. Love Paul Giamatti's stuff but anything he does and says is overshadowed by utter crap overdirection. Good Night and Good Luck - 8/10 George Clooney costars and directs his 2nd filme here. Solid film totally! Great genre piece. Clooney loves noir and does it VERY well (he had a similar style to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind). Great performances by Clooney, Jeff Daniels, Patricia Clarkson, Robert Downey Jr, and the lead David Strathairn! History is boring but Clooney makes it very compelling.

02-26-2012, 01:09 AM	#4736
stevew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the yo'	Drive 8/10? Pretty hard to rate, as I really enjoyed a lot of it. But I also felt like it could have been like 2 times as long and I would have liked it more. Somewhat of a *Heat* type vibe to this movie, and to be honest they had the framework to exceed that movie but they didn't. I felt like it had the vibe of a once a decade type movie, but something was just missing. Some sort of a "B" story would have elevated this to the top. I'd wager a sizeable amount of money on Gosling winning an Oscar within the next 5 years. He's pretty much in that type of zone right now. Last edited by stevew : 02-26-2012 at 01:14 AM.

02-26-2012, 01:32 AM	#4737
ISiddiqui Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Decatur, GA	The Artist - 9/10: Just a wonderful silent film. They really got it right with perfect casting and a fun old-timey plot which involved the move from silent films to talkies. I remember reading that a lot of silent film actors couldn't make the leap, because it takes a very different skill set to be a silent film actor than it does for talking films. For actors used to talkies to go back to exaggerated motions for silent films has to be quite a feat. Utterly charming. __________________ "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages" -Tennessee Williams

02-26-2012, 07:08 AM	#4738
rowech Pro Starter Join Date: Feb 2006	Ides of March -- 5/10 Found it boring. Premise was good but the lead sucked. Ryan Gosling continues to be a horrible actor. Probably won't ever give him another chance to earn my dollars. Last edited by rowech : 02-26-2012 at 07:09 AM.

02-26-2012, 10:05 AM	#4739
weegeebored High School Varsity Join Date: Sep 2006	Drive 3/10 -- I don't understand why a lot of people like this movie. It tries to be artsy, I guess. Fail there. It tries to be Tarentino or Mann-like in parts. Fail again. Gosling tries to play...I don't know...a kewl dude? The mysterious loner? A tough guy with a big heart? He just comes off as a big bore with flat affect, so epic fail there. Based on the opening scene I thought this had a chance, but only that scene and Bryan Cranston are anything good about this movie. Come on -- Albert Brooks as a bad guy?

02-26-2012, 10:27 AM	#4740
Matthean Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Aug 2008	From what reviews I have seen, Drive is a love it or hate it type of movie. __________________ Board games: Bringing people back to the original social network, the table.

02-26-2012, 02:42 PM	#4741
korme Go Reds Join Date: May 2001 Location: Bloodbuzz Ohio	rowech, dude are you kidding me? Watch Half-Nelson or The Believer. Gosling is a hell of a young actor.

02-26-2012, 03:38 PM	#4743
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	I will weigh in on the Drive was dreadful side. I really like Gossling and agree he is a very good actor who is going to win awards in his career. I thought that Drive started off great but could just never get into it.

02-26-2012, 04:35 PM	#4744
stevew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the yo'	Transformers 3- 7/10 Easily better than the 2nd film. To editorialize for a second....how fucking violent was this film? I can't believe this got a PG13. Optimus was ripping the faces off his enemies and killshotting enemies that tried to surrender. Obviously these are "robots" but they are also living creatures according to the movie storylines. I probably just don't take things the right way, but this is a borderline grind snuff film. Last edited by stevew : 02-26-2012 at 09:16 PM.

02-26-2012, 05:11 PM	#4745
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	The opening scene of Drive is amazing, but I agree with the others who though it failed to build on that. Was pretty much just a standard action movie after that. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

02-26-2012, 05:18 PM	#4746
Scoobz0202 Pro Rookie Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Dayton, Ohio	I thought the first scene was brilliant as well. I see I'm not alone in that. Gosling's great. I thought it was a really good movie. I do think the first 75% - 80% was better then the end, though. Something was lacking in the end and I'm not really sure what. I thought it was very good, but there was "something" that prevented it from being great, imo.

02-26-2012, 06:50 PM	#4747
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	The 'problem' I have with Gosling is that I just can't buy him as a tough guy. He looks like a nerdy type of dude who has hit the gym, perfect for the nice-guy romantic comedies and super getaway car drivers, but not as convincing when he is beating thugs to death in elevators. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce Last edited by Groundhog : 02-26-2012 at 06:50 PM.

02-27-2012, 01:59 AM	#4749
Chief Rum Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Where Hip Hop lives	The thing I liked about Gosling in Drive is that he isn't the typical action star--he's a borderline psychopathic killer who has retained just enough humanity to kinda make some acceptable decisions. I mean, his cold and quiet acting in this one is pretty damn chilling considering the level of killing he is doing. Normal action stars don't pull that off. __________________ . . I would rather be wrong...Than live in the shadows of your song...My mind is open wide...And now I'm ready to start...You're not sure...You open the door...And step out into the dark...Now I'm ready.

02-27-2012, 02:25 AM	#4750
korme Go Reds Join Date: May 2001 Location: Bloodbuzz Ohio	It's the polarizing level of acting. Either you take it as acting with zero personality (bad), or intense acting with an amazing amount of concentration (good); the equivalent of saying so much with so few words Last edited by korme : 02-27-2012 at 02:25 AM.